{TWO}

Seriously, how do I have a TWO year old already?! The last year went by WAY.TOO.FAST. Hattie woke up the morning of her party to a surprise visit from the Balloon Fairy. She was SO surprised and loved playing with all of the balloon's that were left for her.





We celebrated Hattie's birthday with a much anticipated Elmo themed party. It was a lot of fun for me to put everything together for her big day! We enjoyed celebrating with family and a few friends.
























Happy Birthday Manhattan Grace! We love you SO MUCH Hattie girl! We are so glad that you are part of our family. You bring an abundance of joy to our lives and we are so excited to see what the next year will bring!

Our Anniversary

With all the craziness of Birthdays and Holidays the Mr. and I still haven't officially celebrated our Anniversary. We did however exchange gifts. This summer Sean lost his very expensive white gold wedding ring and has been wanting another one ever since. After doing a little online shopping I decided on this Tungsten one and I think he really likes it!

I also wanted to something a little more sentimental so I found this idea on Pinterest and decided to recreate my own version in Photoshop.


The original had wedding vows written out and although I know we have them somewhere, I couldn't find them. So instead I used a favorite song of ours that was played on our wedding day--"All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera--so good!

The Mr. of course spoiled me with 2 dozen GORGEOUS roses delivered at work and a gift certificate for a 90 minute pregnancy massage at a local spa. I think all of the complaining about my back hurting paid off, ha! I cannot WAIT to use it this week!

Happy 3 years to us!

28 Weeks - 7 Months!

So of course I forgot to do a 27 week post but Holden decided to grow a TON the last two weeks--I keep running into things with my belly! Ha!

Pregnancy Highlights:
How far Along: 28 weeks - 7 Months! Where does the time go?!
Size of baby: Size of a Chinese cabbage
Total Weight Gain/Loss: + 12 lbs -Went to the doc today and had to be weighed! Darn it! BUT at least I am 5 pounds less than I was with Hattie, yay!
Maternity clothes: Not yet!
Gender: It's a GIRL! Holden Claire Pack
Movement: She moves like a champ and loves my right rib cage
Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty good but have started getting up more during the night
What I miss: Bending over normally--it's just getting more uncomfortable
Cravings: Pizza was ALL I could think about for 5 days and I finally had some last night, ha!
Symptoms: HEARTBURN and back pain. I really try not to complain about much but my back has been KILLING me for a while now and it's becoming more and more unbearable. And it doesn't help that sometimes I walk like a grandma! Ha!

Best Moment this Week: Hearing Holden's heartbeat today! LOVE HER! :)

{3 years}

And more in love than ever.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I'm beginning to have a love/hate relationship with the month of December. For us it includes our Anniversary, Manhattan's birthday, and Christmas which are all wonderful things but then with all of the other Holiday Parties that come up during the month it starts to become a little overwhelming. All in all I really do love it (sorry if I was starting to sound like a scrooge, ha!) and it's so fun to see Hattie in awe of all that Christmas brings. When you have the opportunity to see it through a child's eyes it makes it all so much more meaningful.

On December 1 I busted out some of Hattie's holiday attire. I can't help but smile when she is in such fun festive outfits! Luckily she only has an opinion on what shoes she wears (it must be a girl thing) but doesn't yet care what clothes I choose for her to wear!
Hattie also helped me make some Christmas sugar cookies. She loved pressing the dough and picking out which cookie cutter to use.

If you can't tell from the picture...from left to right: Santa, Candy Cane, Gingerbread Man, Snowman. LOL!

Didn't they turn out BEAUTIFUL?! Just like Martha Stewarts below right?! HAHA!!! Sean and I about died laughing when they came out of the oven! I'm not sure what the deal was but they definitely weren't the prettiest--oh well, they still tasted yummy :)
Something that did turn out was the Christmas Tree! Hattie and I decorated it yesterday and we are both very happy with the end result!

I wanted to incorporate some burlap into the tree this year so with some leftover yards I had on hand, I made a big bow, some ornaments, and wrapped it around the bottom of the tree. I love the woodlands/rustic feel that it brings! Got to love no cost decorating too!

Hattie was dressed for church this morning and I wanted to get a picture of her in front of the tree. Can you find her in all of that red?! HA! You can't even see her BIG red bows in her pig tails.

Hope everyone is starting to get into the Christmas spirit! :)

26 Weeks

Can you see Hattie? :)

Well... I kind of missed my opportunity for a 25 week post...oops! Here's to only 14 more weeks though! :)

Pregnancy Highlights:
How far Along: 26 weeks
Size of baby: Size of an English hothouse cucumber (whatever that is?! ha!)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: + 9 lbs (went to the doc and visited the dreaded scale!)
Maternity clothes: Not yet!
Gender: It's a GIRL! Holden Claire Pack
Movement: She moves like a champ
Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty good but have started getting up more during the night
What I miss: Bending over normally--it's just getting more uncomfortable
Cravings: Pie has been at the top of my list this past week! You name it! Pumpkin, Banana,Chocolate, Apple, Cookie...YUM!
Symptoms: HEARTBURN
Best Moment this Week: Hattie giving my tummy kisses and asking "Where's Holden?"

Giving Thanks

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving this year spent with family. The entire Pack family was together and we couldn't have asked for a better weekend! We did so many fun things and I completely forgot to bring my camera to capture any of the fun times (totally lame). On Thanksgiving morning we woke up bright and early and did the a fun run / walk! It was a bit chilly (more like freezing) when we first started but by the end it warmed up a bit. Sean and the boys ran the 10k and all the girls walked in the 5k stroller brigade. We decided that it was so fun that it should be an annual tradition for us--not to mention that it makes everything you eat guilt free! Ha! Some other notable things we did: *Celebrated my mom's birthday with yummy Cookie Pie *Consumed way too much Thanksgiving Dinner and Dessert (for 3 days in a row mind you) *Roasted S'mores while telling what we are thankful for around the fire *Attended baby Colby's blessing *Went and saw Breaking Dawn *Went out for Blue Bell ice cream *Forgot Hattie's diapers and had to make a makeshift diaper out of paper towels, ha! *Made my chocolate pie and it didn't set up, bummer! *Visited Evan at work and saw him in action--he can make a yummy panini!

I often don't count my blessings like I should but I truly am beyond grateful for all that I have. Some things I am most grateful for are:

- Mr. Pack
- Hattie Grace
- A healthy pregnancy - Baby Holden Claire
- Our Families
- The Gospel
- Good Friends
- Good Health
- Our Home
- Our Jobs

I am extremely blessed to have all that I do and this Thanksgiving I remembered how much I need to continually strive to have an "attitude of gratitude."

"We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues."
- President Thomas S. Monson

This and that

I should be posting about my being 25 weeks along but I really don't feel like taking a pic...so maybe later this week :)

BUT I did want to show you the new 16x20 canvas print that we got!

Isn't it pretty?! I absolutely LOVE wrapped canvas prints but I absolutely HATE the price so anytime that there is a good deal on them I snag one. This deal I got on EverSave for $35 to CanvasChic.com! Such a great deal I tell ya! The other two I got after Hattie was born from CanvasPeople.com and all I paid was shipping. Canvases are so nice because they make a statement and you don't have to go searching for that "perfect" picture frame. You literally can just hang them up! SO NICE! Anyway, just wanted to share :)

Another thing that we have been doing a lot of around our house is this...

Yes, you can see it for yourself, Hattie is OBSESSED with Thomas the Train! She wants to watch it all the time and her favorite train is Emily (naturally, the only girl, ha!) Seriously though, she sings and dances to it and can't get enough--we even own a Thomas toothbrush and sippy cup--now that's true love. HA!

24 Weeks - 16 to go!

If you can't tell, I've lost my photographer! He always seems to be gone when I get around to blogging...sorry I know how dumb these pics are, ha!

Pregnancy Highlights:
How far Along: 24 weeks - I can't believe I am 6 months along!
Size of baby: Size of an ear of corn
Total Weight Gain/Loss: + 9 lbs (went to the doc and visited the dreaded scale!)
Maternity clothes: Not yet!
Gender: It's a GIRL! Holden Claire Pack
Movement: She moves all the time and always seems pretty cozy in my right rib cage
Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty good!
What I miss: I really can't think of anything
Cravings: CEREAL! It sounds soooo good day or night! Not prego I hardly eat the stuff!
Symptoms: Heartburn is getting worse as the weeks go by and I've been super moody lately
Best Moment this Week: Going to the doc and hearing Holden's heartbeat--love her! :)

23 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:
How far Along: 23 weeks
Size of baby: Size of a large mango
Total Weight Gain/Loss: + 6 lbs
Maternity clothes: Not yet!
Gender: It's a GIRL! Holden Claire Pack
Movement: She moves a lot at night just like her big sis :)
Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty good!
What I miss: Nothing comes to mind right now
Cravings: Pretty much anything and everything FOOD lately. I feel like I'm eating all day long! HA!
Symptoms: Heartburn is getting worse as the weeks go by
Best Moment this Week: Feeling Holden move like crazy and the Mr. talking to her all the time :)

Chocolate Meringue Pie

I made this the other night for dessert and it was a hit!


I found the recipe here and it is as follows:

Pie filling:
Frozen or refrigerated pie crust (I used refrigerated and it was great!)
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
3-4 tbsp cocoa
1 1/2 cups milk
4 egg yolks
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tbsp butter

Meringue: (I altered mine a bit since I didn't have marshmallows)
4 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
6-8 large marshmallows

Bake pie crust according to directions. Mix first 3 ingredients. Beat 4 egg yolks and save the whites. Sprinkle salt on eggs. Add milk in eggs. Add to dry and cook on stove top - stir until thick. Add vanilla and butter.
Pour in pie crust when done.

Take egg whites and beat until stiff. Take sugar and a "tad" of water and boil until it makes a syrup. Add marshmallows and melt. Add to egg whites already beat. Add on top of pie.

Enjoy!

All Hallows' Eve

We had a fun but very low key Halloween this year. Halloween still is one of my absolute favorite holidays but this year I just wasn't feelin' it. I'm not sure what it was but I didn't feel like dressing up or anything--oh well, maybe next year? At least I put up my decorations :)




A few nights before Halloween we attended our ward Halloween party. It was a hit! The night included a trunk or treat for the kids, an array of tasty chilli's and even homemade doughnuts! YUM! We sat by two of our wonderful neighbors the Rucker's and the Johnson's. It was a great night!

Barrett, Berlin and Jeanine

Briana, Chloe, Vanessa and Ben

One of Hattie's favorite animals is a cat so I thought it would be fitting for her to be a little Kitty Cat this year and boy did she make a cute one! I had so much fun getting her all dolled up for Halloween night and this may have included a little mascara on those gorgeous lashes of hers--toddlers and tiaras much? ha!

She thought she was a scary kitty and kept saying "ROAR!" haha!

Papa Lynn and Grandma Janice came to visit

A visit to Hattie's wonderful sitter Julianne

A visit to Grandma Sue Sue

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!